Regional peace hinges on Kashmir, says Ayaz

ISLAMABAD - National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said on Tuesday that peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people was imperative for peace and development in the region.

“Pakistan will extend its unwavering moral, political and diplomatic support to the just struggle of the Kashmiri people for their inalienable right of self-determination, as enshrined in the UN Charter and relevant UN resolutions,” NA speaker while speaking to a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly, and different dignitaries at the Parliament House, according to a press release issued by NA secretariat.

While talking to the Belarus ambassador, he said that Pakistan aspired to deepen and diversify bilateral engagement with Belarus. “Pakistan’s political leadership has embarked on an unprecedented regional outreach for addressing developmental challenges,” he said. Sadiq underlined the need for forging synergies in areas of agriculture, energy and technology and further stressed the role of parliamentary engagement in cementing bilateral relations.

While talking to Commander of Bahraini National Guards Lt-Gen Sheikh Mohammad Bin Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the NA speaker said that sustained cooperation between the Muslim countries was highly imperative for confronting challenges posed by terrorism and internal divisions. He underlined the need to rectify the distorted image of Islam as projected by the extremists and negatively propagated by the western media as intolerant and violent religion.

He said that Islam was a religion of peace that abhorred terrorism and extremism in all its forms and manifestations.

Lt-Gen Sheikh Al-Khalifa endorsed Sadiq’s proposal for collaboration to confront shared challenges and urged the need for deeper engagement between the two friendly countries. He added that the Muslim world was confident of the Pakistan’s leadership and expressed he hoped that Pakistan will continue to assist the regional countries in overcoming the menace of terrorism.